It was a completely different phase in my life. The Bush wiretapping shit was the most important event in my political development until I grew the fuck up and began to realize that this country—as flawed and racist as it is—is the most audacious experiment there has ever been, and that law enforcement in this country (as flawed and racist and oppressive as it has been) are the most ethical and lawful police force that have ever existed.

idk, man. it can be seen as a type of behavior experimentation, a way of ensuring compliance by creating an ever-present law enforcement boogeyman---foucault would argue that leaking information on PRISM ends up making the true aims of it more effective, it would make sense for USG to "leak" information on it. i might tie the two together in a different thread down the line

i think it's really sinister. we've been mercifully protected thus far from any quasi-Stasi stuff by the CIA's mandate to only operate outside of the country, but the NSA has no such directive. they seem to be bent on blurring the lines there

i agree on your last point that our justice system, until recently, was one of the least intrusive in the world---we have a remarkably low level of "directly citizen-affecting" corruption